Work piece components are often subject to wear and abrasion during use or operation in a variety of environments. Currently various methods are provided for improving surface wear durability by nitriding, carburizing, quenching, surface coating, cladding and centrifugal casting with hard carbides injected into the melt. Such methods are limited by reaction kinetics, diffusion kinetics, formation of undesirable phase, inhomogeneity due to concentration gradients and thermodynamic stability of the phases of interest at high treatment temperatures. Workpiece distortion is a typical consequence of the aforesaid high treatment temperatures. It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide for surface treatment of work piece components which avoids the problems and disadvantages heretofore associated therewith.